How 4 O.C. entrepreneurs took the leap

March 18, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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A bolero jacket by VVK is a favorite of owner Kimberly Anderson at Sweeet Repeeet Consignment in San Clemente. She says the shop features brand new, gently used and gently loved merchandise. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Sam Nelson, right, is CEO and founder of the startup Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. Nelson's sister Kate Nelson, left, is the project manager, his wife Tyree Nelson, center, is the content writer and his brother Andy Nelson, not pictured, is the lead website designer. Nelson and his brother are self-taught in web design. Sam Nelson has launched a successful business with strong reviews on Yelp.com. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Kimberly Anderson, owner of Sweeet Repeeet Consignment in San Clemente shows off a pair of hot pink ruffled heels and a Louis Vuitton purse which sells for $1,200. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Valerie Stowski started her jewelry design business, Valerie's Boutique in Orange, after being laid off as a court reporter. PHOTO COURTESY VALERIE STOWSKI

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Sam Nelson, center, is CEO and founder of the startup Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. Nelson's sister Kate Nelson, left, is the project manager, his wife Tyree Nelson, right, is the content writer and his brother Andy Nelson, not pictured, is the lead website designer for the startup. Nelson and his brother are self-taught in web design. Sam Nelson has launched a successful business with strong reviews on Yelp.com. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Website Muscle founder and CEO Sam Nelson, left, in a meeting with his sister Kate Nelson, center, and wife Tyree Nelson, right, in their offices in Costa Mesa. Nelson's brother, not pictured, Andy Nelson is the lead website designer. Sam Nelson has launched a successful business with strong reviews on Yelp.com. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Sam Nelson founder and CEO of the startup Website Muscle is self-taught in code and web design. Nelson was a realtor who left the industry right before the housing slump and decided to create his small startup which employs his wife and two of his siblings. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Tyree Nelson, left, and husband Sam Nelson in the office of Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. The small startup is a family business consisting of Sam Nelson, two of his siblings, and his wife. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A UCLA basketball uniform hangs in Sam Nelson's office as his sister, Kate Nelson, works at right. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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One of the projects completed for a client by Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. COURTESY OF WEBSITE MUSCLE

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One of the projects completed for a client by Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. COURTESY OF WEBSITE MUSCLE

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One of the projects completed for a client by Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. COURTESY OF WEBSITE MUSCLE

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One of the projects completed for a client by Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. COURTESY OF WEBSITE MUSCLE

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The homepage for Website Muscle in Costa Mesa. COURTESY OF WEBSITE MUSCLE

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Kimberly Anderson, owner of Sweeet Repeeet Consignment in San Clemente, models a pair of Leisure Society sunglasses. The gently used shades are 18k gold plated, feature three diamonds and sell for $850. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A pair of Miu Miu shoes is among the many to be had at Sweeet Repeeet Consignment in San Clemente. They are priced at $40. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A Navajo custom made turquoise inlaid sterling silver necklace is shown by owner Kimberly Anderson at Sweeet Repeeet Consignment in San Clemente. The price is $400. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A bathing beauty and type decorate this shoe by Carlos, one of many pairs available at Sweeet Repeeet Consignment in San Clemente. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Dana Moss, visiting San Clemente from Utah, found Sweeet Repeeet Consignment online and decided to stop by for a look. JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

A bolero jacket by VVK is a favorite of owner Kimberly Anderson at Sweeet Repeeet Consignment in San Clemente. She says the shop features brand new, gently used and gently loved merchandise.JEBB HARRIS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Sam Nelson and Valerie Strowski started their own businesses after being laid off in the recession. Kimberly Anderson and Suzanne Grayson turned their longtime professional skills into companies that reflect their personal styles.

These four new business owners exemplify Orange County's entrepreneurial enterprises that have grown despite a deep recession and slow economic recovery.

Not everyone has been so bold. The U.S. Census Bureau says that business startups nationwide plunged more than 17 percent following the 2009 end of the recession to the lowest level since the bureau started tracking the numbers in 1977. The Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City nonprofit that studies entrepreneurship, found the same trend in its research.

Still, millions of people did start businesses during this period, so Kauffman partnered with LegalZoom, a legal documents website, to find out more about people who started businesses in the past year. (See related charts).

Researchers and reporters love data. But business ownership is far more than statistics. It's people whose ideas and innovations provide products and services and jobs. It's Your Business wondered not only who but why someone starts a business in this economic environment and what challenges they face.

So I asked Anderson, Nelson, Grayson and Strowski why and how they took the leap in such an economy. Their answers are as individual as their businesses.

Her story: Anderson, previously a personal shopper for Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, started Sweeet Repeeet in November 2011 to have a business to share with her teenage twin daughters, Kinsley and Kaleigh.

The girlswork in the store when they're not in school or sports.

"I've always wanted to work for myself to see if I could really do it," Anderson said. "People thought I was crazy, but rents were down and landlords were willing to negotiate a good lease."

In her shop she tries to provide the feel of a Nordstrom with quality service and merchandise, but with prices a third lower than retail. "I love helping other women look amazing at the same time I'm saving them money and recycling."

Anderson found that the toughest challenge is structuring the finances of the business. In hindsight she thinks she should have hired a bookkeeper and set up separate bookkeeping for the shop before she spent a dollar.

"I (should have) opened a business credit card from the start instead of using my personal credit cards and trying to retrace my steps with receipts," she said.

Despite the sluggish economy, Anderson says her shop is going strong. "I found after opening my business that so many people love to support small business," she said, adding that what she loves most about ownership is "I'm the one who will make it successful or not. I love the freedom and the pride that comes with ownership."

His story: If Nelson's name sounds familiar, it may be his years playing volleyball and basketball at Estancia High School and UCLA. After graduation, he worked in commercial mortgages for about five years before the industry imploded in 2007.

Nelson taught himself coding and online marketing to promote his real estate career, so when he was looking for a new career, those skills provided an answer.

"I didn't want to be in a dead-end job with a long commute and never get to see my family," he said. "I wanted flexibility. I wanted to work for myself."

The Kauffman-LegalZoom survey found that almost half of the respondents had spent more than six months on their business before actually starting. Nelson said he didn't have that luxury because he had a wife, new baby and a mortgage.

"My skills ... were not even close to where they are now when I first started freelancing (in 2008), but I'm a big believer in just going for it and you learn along the way," he said. "I was all by myself so I was handling all meetings, design, follow-up, billing and paperwork. I literally wouldn't sleep."

Finally, Website Muscle was successful enough to hire Nelson's sister Kate, who organized the office, finances and taxes. He has since added his brother and wife to the staff. "I love working with my family and we get along great," Nelson said.

"As I've grown my business ... the number one priority is always to get back to clients right away," he said. "Getting to the point where I could hire a full team, that was huge."

Her story: A layoff forced Strowski, a court reporter for nine years, to find a new career. She said she could have continued working as an independent contractor, but decided to pursue another passion: jewelry design.

She opened Valerie's Boutique in 2012 to create and sell jewelry for girls and women. Prices range from $49 to $138.

"My current career seemed to be disappearing due to technology," she said. "My layoff motivated me to start something completely new that I'd never tried. My husband helps me make the actual jewelry on my website and I design and put it together."

Her greatest business challenge was learning jewelry design software, staying up past midnight for months to learn. "I had my ideas but had never done any sort of design work on a computer before," she said. "I love that a design for a new piece of jewelry can randomly pop in my head and within a week it's up for sale on my site. I also love the feedback I get from my customers."

Strowski also does custom designs from clients' artwork. For example, a customer sent a photo of her dog and Strowski created a necklace from the pet's outline.

She sells her jewelry from her own website, but now thinks she also should have sold from other boutiques from the beginning. "I am just now starting to look into that and I've had a huge response," she said. "If I'd done it sooner, the word would be out there about my boutique even more."

Her story: Grayson is what researchers call a serial entrepreneur. After working in the cosmetics industry for such giants as Revlon and Max Factor, Grayson has owned two cosmetic trade shows, a chain of cosmetic shops inside department stores and a publishing company for industry professionals.

"Having been a consultant to various companies in the cosmetic business and writing a newsletter for 30 years telling companies how to be successful in the cosmetic business, it was time to do it ourselves," she said of her latest venture. She works with her husband, Robert, a marketing expert.

Her experience coincides with 44 percent of Kauffman-LegalZoom respondents who had owned at least one business before starting their latest venture.

Unlike Nelson, who plunged into business immediately, the Graysons worked nine years developing the seven products that make up her new 7 Days of Wonder skin care line, which she sells on her website. She was looking for a solution to a common complaint about skin cream: that it ceases to work after a period of time.

"That has always been my specialty: new product positioning and development," she said.

Even after finding her formula, Grayson had to handle the legalities of starting a business, open a business checking account and – by her count – 16 other major tasks. "Sheer paperwork would stop any sensible person from trying to start a business," she said. "We discovered that the idea is the easiest part."

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